‘Success is where preparation and opportunity meet’ – Bobby Unser
My Food Bag was one of the country’s most successful enterprises launched last year and 2014 looks even brighter for the fast growing business with the efficacious trio of Theresa Gattung, Cecilia Robinson and Nadia Lim at its head.
The accomplishments of the business can be largely boiled down to the meticulous preparation and research carried out before the first food parcel was even a twinkle in its eater’s eye.
“We looked closely at the market both here and overseas to understand what products have been successful,” explains My Food Bag and Au Pair Link founder and 2012 Her Businesswoman of the Year, Cecilia Robinson.
Cecilia can also boast that of all the 2013 goals set for the business, not one was left unticked.
“We have had a really successful first year and have exceeded all targets and goals we initially set when we founded this business.
“A core difference between our offering and Sweden’s (where this concept originated) is that all our meals are fresh and we source only free-range products,” she continues. “We also conducted market research around consumer purchasing and prices to better understand how we should segment our products. We initially launched our service in Auckland but have since expanded to Wellington and the Waikato.”
Offering a classic bag option with ‘inspirational yet classic recipes with a twist’, My Food Bag has considered busy families with older children (or teenagers) who want healthy food and delicious recipes delivered to their door as well as professional couples who love fresh food and enjoy exotic flavours with their gourmet bag option. This month a new family bag for families with children younger than 10 will be available with recipes designed to be especially quick and easy for busy parents.
The woman behind the food, Masterchef 2011 winner Nadia Lim, immediately knew her now-business partner was onto something good when first approached to join the project.
“In October 2012, Cecilia and her husband emailed with a pitch saying they’d love for me to be involved,” Nadia recalls. “I was about to leave for Europe and knew about their business, Au Pair Link so assumed they wanted me to get on board with a baby food product. I had others approach me with similar ideas which didn’t interest me at the time but I decided to go to the meeting with my husband and immediately loved the My Food Bag idea.”
Nadia says it is paramount that she stands by every recipe endorsed with her name.
“My Food Bag is a great way to get people eating healthy because while you can write a cookbook and you can do cooking demonstrations it doesn’t put people in that ultimate position to put it into practice.
“The recipes have to tick the following boxes: easy to make (generally less than 20-30 minutes and for basic cooking skill level), meet nutrition guidelines (half vegetables, one quarter carbs, one quarter protein, be within 400-650 kcal/serve), use lots of fresh produce (a wide variety of fruit and vegetables), and most importantly, taste great! While the large majority of recipes meet the nutrition guidelines, sometimes we throw more of a ‘treat’ dish/recipe in the mix, usually made up for by a healthier recipe in the same week though.”
Contrary to the original business plan which allowed for efficient repetition of popular recipes, focus group research concluded that consumers did not want any repeats of meals… which means Nadia and her team are having to come up with at least 15 recipes each week!
“It’s great to have Nadia as part of the brand as well as making the magic behind the scenes,” Cecilia says. “Nadia is renowned for not only creating yummy food but also because she is a qualified dietician. It means our customers get healthy and delicious meals.”
As the second month of 2014 rolls in and temptations continue to lure goal setters away from well-meaning resolutions, Cecilia’s greatest joy is the feedback from customers who with the assistance of My Food Bag are forming healthy eating addictions.
“We get emails every week from our customers telling us anecdotes about their family changes such as ‘my husband is now cooking’ or ‘my kids are finally taking the lead in the kitchen’. These have all been bonuses for us - we love hearing how our foodies are finding the love for cooking again - or for the first time.”
www.myfoodbag.co.nz
THREE QUICK QUESTIONS WITH CECILIA ROBINSON:
ONE
How to master technology: what gadgets / apps is My Food Bag exploring to help grow the business?
We built our website to be responsively designed to ensure it would work and adapt across all platforms. We think responsive design is the way of the future and we are really pleased at how well our website integrates across different devices. Naturally I think everyone wants apps nowadays so this is certainly something we would look into further but isn’t a high priority for us at this stage.
TWO
What social media pearls could you offer our readers?
For us the key social media guiding formula is around being transparent with your customers and always responding promptly. We often get positive feedback for how our social media (Facebook and twitter) is managed. The truth is there is no magic formula for us and we just put in a lot of time and effort to communicating with our customers and making it all tick.
THREE
What will the next two years bring for My Food Bag?
We have some very exciting, realistic growth and product targets for the next two years. I think by achieving them we will actually be able to make a huge impact on eating habits in New Zealand. For us, it’s all about creating healthier communities and bringing back the love into cooking. It’s an exciting ride for all of us and we are putting our hearts and souls into making this all work.
